RINU ODUALA, the convener of Operation Sanitise and a leading advocate for #ENDSARS, #ENDSWAT and #ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY, in an exclusive chat with KEMI AJUMOBI, Associate Editor, BusinessDay, on the 20th of October 2020, right after the announcement of the initial 24hour curfew by Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu, and before the gruesome shootings which occurred later in the evening, shared her views on the protests and what led to it among other issues. Excerpts.
Operation Sanitise
It came up when COVID-19 came into Nigeria and everybody was at a loss on what to do. You don’t have to wait for the government to do everything. It’s about safety. Let everybody just be safe. I just announced on my social media handles that I wanted to carry out the operation sanitise. I think I’ve always had this thing that if I call for one, more people come up to say ‘oh what she’s saying makes sense, let join in.’ So, that’s how people started joining in from Edo, from Benue and people started contributing their own funds to it and it all became a reality. Right now, we’ve made over 50, 000 to 100, 000 sanitisers and spread it across the state and made sure people felt the impact. We’re also helping the government know that citizens are also doing this.
Some of the lockdowns have been eased, so, we’re currently on hold to monitor the situation and if we see any cases worsening, we move into action since we already have groups set for that.
The initial 24-hour curfew imposed on Lagos by the Governor
I envisioned it, but I didn’t know it would happen real soon. In every fight, there has to be a plan. So, we already envisioned it and thought about it that the government is going to play a card very soon that might possibly immobilise us and we understood. The point we thought they were going to come from was the COVID-19 guidelines, but they knew that everybody wouldn’t be in agreement with it and they came through this. It is true that some unscrupulous elements have been trying to take over the protest; they set up roadblocks and tried to extort citizens. With the peaceful protesters, you will not see them carrying cutlasses, and trying to extort citizens. They were never part of the protests, and there are still some protesters here [at time of interview], you see them sitting around and they are not doing anything to flout law and order.
We have people that wanted to deface the roads, but we told them this is not what we envisioned. It’s not our plan. Our plan is to come here, make our grievances known, and let the government answer our demands.
So, regarding the curfew, I have a principle, which is safety first. I never want any lives to be lost; I never want anybody to be maimed. If we’re considering the fact that we are peaceful, then we shouldn’t be going against the law. So, the law has said there is a curfew, I think we should abide by that, that’s me, since we’re calling ourselves peaceful protesters.
EndSARS Protests
Let me start with what led to it. We can all remember what happened in Ughelli where a young man was killed and they drove off with his Lexus car. It sparked outrage online and people were talking about protests. I’ve never been someone to hold back, so, I said, ‘you know what, let’s just start this protest’ and some people were calling for a celebrity. But I said we don’t need a celebrity. Let’s just go out on the streets. In every lawful manner, we reached out to some lawyers and drafted petitions and all that. And I said we should start on Wednesday for proper planning. After then, Naira Marley asked who was organising one, and I came up on his platform and said we already had one for Wednesday. I don’t know why he later decided Tuesday. I said if he starts on Tuesday, we can leave the one of Wednesday and join him since we’re all fighting for the same thing. Tuesday came and he called it off and people were asking me, saying “Now that Naira Marley has called off, will you call off?” I said I never asked for any celebrity in the first place. It was just 20 people that came out so, let’s just go together. So, that’s how it started.
We went to the Police Headquarters first, to see the CP. We got there and waited for about 10 hours…they were sending others to us. We said we wanted to see the CP. In Nigeria, you have this thing where you want to see someone and they send subordinates to you at first. We were waiting. All eyes were on Naira Marley’s protest, so they thought because the people that were organising the one we were doing are not celebrities, once the celebrity has called it off, every other one is unserious.
So, we were waiting, the DPO came out, ACP, DCP, all came out and tried to get us to submit our petition to them and go back home and we insisted we wanted to see the CP. When they saw we were not going, the CP came and addressed us for over an hour and encouraged us to go home. We had a plan. Whenever protests are going on in Nigeria, the authorities are always telling the protesters that ‘we’ll work on it, we can go back home’. So, we envisioned that and told the CP that we wanted the petition to get to the IGP’s table within 24 hours. He said that was fine and that we could go home. Then we said “No”, that we would wait there, let the petition go, and let us receive a response then we can go. Then he started saying some of the demands in the petition are beyond his jurisdiction that they are in the hands of lawmakers. We said we would meet the lawmakers the next day, but for that particular day we were there, we would sleep at the Police Headquarters, that was on October 7th. Nobody knew we were there, but we just kept using #LagosProtest.
On Thursday morning, we went to the Lagos State House of Assembly. We knew they always have sittings on Thursdays, so we said we would come and meet them. It was a long walk but by the time we got here, the sitting had ended. So, we waited, some of the officials came out, some DPOs came out and CSOs of the House came out and all of them were trying to persuade us that the speaker was not around, but we told them that we would wait for the speaker to come even if it’s tomorrow, we have all the time to wait because Nigerian youths have been tagged lazy youths and we don’t have jobs, so we don’t have anywhere we are going. Besides, you’ve made our roads unsafe, our homes unsafe. So, there is no reason for us to go anywhere.
Where is the safest place in Lagos that is heavily guarded? It’s supposed to be the State House of Assembly. So, we thought that we could be safer there and we stayed outside. That was how we waited.
However, something happened that Thursday, on October 8th. The police came in full gear, I don’t know what information they got, but they came and took down our camping materials, they brought towing vehicles to tow away our cars and started harassing us. We all knelt down. We thought we would die that night. At 11 pm, they all came out and we all lay on the ground. It was a whole lot for us to bear. I think that was the peak point.
So, we started tweeting and people were saying ‘stay safe’ and I got angry. You’re telling us to stay safe in front of a gun. The lights around the House of Assembly were all switched off; we knew that they got an order. We were in darkness and people were online saying ‘stay safe’. I got angry and was saying “why can’t you all move?” But people were wondering what they could do from their homes. I just lost hope in a better Nigeria. I think that’s what got people triggered.
Nevertheless, there was this guy on Twitter who came driving in his car. He didn’t even care. He just drove through all the barricades they set up and said “Rinu what’s happening?’ and at that point, I gained confidence again because I knew somebody is actually out here, and that there are still people that care. The police also wanted to harass him as well, but he said he didn’t come for them that he came for us, the protesters.
Then about 10 people also came out that night, those who stay around, they came out to actually see what was happening. Their idea was that, if anything wants to go down here, let it go down in our sight. So, I think that was when the government realised that these people are not here to joke.
Around 1 am., the speaker himself came out and started talking and apologising and I told him, “We don’t want your apology sir. We want to know who sanctioned that attack on peaceful protesters who were not damaging anything and were on their own. Who sanctioned that attack?” and he couldn’t answer, that’s when everyone realized…you know there is this mystery that government officials are ‘gods’, but at that point, everyone realized that they are human beings like us and that we need to demand accountability and they came out on Friday.
There were a whole lot of people here on Friday morning bringing food, water, saying, ‘You know what, if they want to kill us, let them kill everybody. We’re going to remain right here with you guys,’ and that’s how it started.
The protest so far has been amazing largely because of the unity. I never imagined Nigerian youths would come together and form this unified movement. They are bringing their own food and water; people are contributing to the movement. There are no cares about ‘I am a Muslim or Christian’. Nobody cares about if you’re Yoruba or Igbo, everybody is just coming to demand this accountability together.
As at where we stand today, SARS has evolved from just being a police unit to mean bad governance because if there was no bad governance, we’ve been demanding for disbandment for four to five years now but nothing has been done about it. How in 2020 do you expect people to still believe that you’ve disbanded SARS?
Faith in the government?
The truth and core of the matter which I personally believe is that the youths and the Nigerian people at large have lost faith in the government because the government has not given any proof so far to trust them. Imagine we’re protesting against police brutality and you’re still arresting protesters, protesters are still being shot at. So, we’re pushing one message and you’re passing another. I think they’ve started to come to the realization that the power does not lie with them. You do not decide for the people because we elected you into power. The power lies with us. They know what to do but they’re not doing it. The government knows what to do but they are not doing it.
Response from the government
The response has been lackadaisical because there are protests going on in Nigeria and our president is not even in Nigeria. It doesn’t make any sense. You don’t expect your house to be on fire with your valuables and everything that concerns you and you’re just aloof and trying to make a mockery of everything. The government doesn’t need to have social media dialogue with us. We don’t want social media dialogue. It doesn’t take the government anything to set up a 24-hour live viewing where you are talking to the people constantly. You don’t have to look for any leader of the protest. I’m not a leader, I’m a protester. My strength is at the protest ground. It seems like all we have been doing for the past two weeks is just shouting and making noise. That’s what it looks like. It’s sad.
When I was talking to the CP and he said he understands what we’re going through, I told him he does not understand. The Speaker said the same thing and I said you don’t understand. The average Nigerian does not even have a car. They do not have security guarding them every day but they are the ones being harassed. One said “I have children like you” but I made them realize that their children are always being guarded, they do not get harassed by police.
The Curfew and way forward
I do not decide for the Nigerian people but in this instance, I am a voice. Like I said from the beginning, safety is paramount. You do not know what these people have planned. You do not know what the orders of the police are. So, for me, it is safety first, let everybody keep safe. I do not want any life lost on the account of the protest. We’re peaceful protesters like I’ve always been saying. If we’re peaceful protesters, then we would be able to stay within the guidelines of the law. We’re not clamouring for anarchy, we’re not clamouring for an overthrow of the government, all we’re saying is a better Nigeria. So, if the law says we should stay at home then let people do that.
However, for me, it’s discouraging because we don’t know why you can announce a curfew but you can’t meet the demands of the people. In spite of that, the law is still the law. Let everybody stay at home. I still have people here who are insisting that they are going to stay out on the streets. But I tell them that I do not speak for you guys, you came out on your own and you have your own voices, but for me safety is paramount.
People still don’t believe that SARS has been disbanded. What does that say to you?
The people have lost faith in the government. They’ve totally lost faith. Like I said, SARS has been disbanded several times in the past but you still see them out on the streets. So, they’ve lost faith and I do not blame them for that.
On SWAT
I do not think that a new unit to replace SARS was the best idea at that time. What they projected was that they were just forming up that unit meanwhile; we have credible information that that unit has been formed a year ago. But what they were trying to push across was that it was formed in replacement of SARS. In the five for five we have a psychological evaluation of officers before they can be redeployed.
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